Official Caribbean Partner

AS A REGULAR READER OF TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE, you have no doubt noticed that we cover the Caribbean quite extensively. Being such a wonderful and diverse region, the Caribbean offers a vast array of travel experiences for your clients—and great money-making opportunities for you.

So you can imagine how proud we are that Travel Agent Media Group was chosen as the Official Travel Trade Media for the Caribbean. What does that mean? We were named a strategic media partner for the Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC), an equal partnership between the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the Caribbean Hotel Association. The CTDC's mission is build and enhance the Caribbean brand through cooperative marketing initiatives designed to build consumer demand for the region.

As the Official Travel Trade Media partner, our goal is to assist Caribbean destinations and hoteliers in delivering to agents all of the information you need to promote and book the Caribbean for your clients. To that end, we plan to provide a number of valuable services to you and to suppliers from the region:

1. Travel Agent will take over publishing of the semi-annual Caribbeantravel.com|~Caribbeantravel.com/ —The Magazine. Formerly known as The Caribbean Gold Book, this comprehensive guide to the Caribbean features detailed information on every Caribbean destination and more than 1,300 hotel properties. The first issue of Caribbeantravel.com|~Caribbeantravel.com/ —The Magazine will be coming out in May. If you book the Caribbean and want to request a subscription, please drop me an e-mail.

2. We are also going to develop and deploy a "travel agents only" web portal for the Caribbean, which will be accessible through www.caribbeantravel.com|~www.caribbeantravel.com/ and will serve as the official agent site for the region, featuring destination and hotel information, news, a festivals and events calendar and a library of digital brochures and videos.

3. We will also be launching an online "e-learning" platform called Caribbean Agent University. An extension of Travel Agent's highly successful Travel Agent University, these courses will be developed in cooperation with each Caribbean destination, allowing you to take courses and become a specialist in all the islands.

The Caribbean is truly an amazing place. I have personally visited about half of the 32 island countries and hope to complete that list sooner rather than later. If you are actively booking the Caribbean, the new programs we offer will make your life easier. And if you haven't booked any of your clients to the Caribbean yet, I urge you to familiarize yourself with the region. You and your clients will be glad you did.